noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The degradation of food product quality due to supply chain disruptions. It occurs when delays cause food, especially perishables, to have a shortened shelf life, resulting in products being overripe, less fresh, or closer to their expiration date by the time they reach the store. countable, uncountable

Etymology

Blend of shelf life + inflation.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.